Incense in The Wind: Vijayshree Fragrance

Tuesday, 15 November 2022

Vijayshree Fragrance

Vijayshree was founded in 1990, and has three sites in the incense capital of the world, Bangalore. They claim to use all natural ingredients, such as halmaddi (allanthus manbarca), nagchampa (mesua ferrea linn), sandalwood, and loban (boswellia sernata roxb), as well as "Fine Aromatic Chemicals". They claim to have over 500 workers making 200,000 packets of incense a day. All their incense appears to in a series called Golden, and most of that is called Golden Nag. The cones appear to be perfumed. Initially I thought the sticks were masala, but in recent reviews I've become aware that they are perfumed masala. That is the fragrance is entirely or mainly derived from oils, which may be essential oils (extracted from one plant source), fragrance oils (a blend), or synthetic (a human made aroma compound, often derived from plants); though the stick is made via a more involved process than simple perfumed dipped sticks, so it looks like a masala stick, and shares some of the attributes.

I think all of Vijayshree's incenses are prefaced with "Golden"; and there's many which have "Nag" in the name. The first Vijayshree scent I reviewed was Golden Nag Champa cones in 2017. I remarked back then: "It's not what I would normally understand as a Nag Champa - it seems to contain plumeria or frangipani, rather than the magnolia or champaca of Nag Champa. Normally such incenses are simply called Champa, but Vijayshree have chosen to call it Nag Champa, which expands my understanding of what is Nag Champa." So, reflecting on that, it seems that "Golden Nag" is the brand name, as the Golden Nag Champa cones I had in 2017 smelled of champa rather than nag champa.

My early encounters with Vijayshree incense tended to be enthusiastically positive, yet with little analysis of the product or the scent. However, with a weight of positive experiences (however shallow) I started to associate Vijayshree as a potential incense house of quality. And this, despite repeated comments regarding the vague nature of the scents, their lightness, the brevity of the burn, and an awareness of the perfume on the stick. I then decided to explore more of the Golden Nag range. I found the cones variable, with a general trend toward crude perfume-dipped, though my feelings regarding the agarbathi were still very positive - mostly hovering around top end of Decent or nudging into Heavenly on my Top of The Dhoops list.

Website: VijayshreeFragrence.com